The First Train Ride
by Dalikins
Summary: Oneshot! Remus Lupin's first trip on the Hogwarts Express was anything but uneventful. Includes how he met the rest of the Marauder, Lily, and Severus. Complete! Finished!


Dalikins here! This is a short story I wrote a while ago about Remus Lupins first train ride to Hogwarts and I thought someone might enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, all of the characters in the following story belong to J. K. Rowling, and are more then likely copy righted by Warner Brothers or whatever it is they do to them. I make no profit off of this story. This is only my take on the events presented in this story and I mean no offence to anyone reading this story in any way.

With that being said enjoy!

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The First Train Ride

It was the first of September and Kings Cross Station in London was packed, as a small brown haired boy of 11 years old walked towards platform 9. There was a large smile across his face, even though inside he was scared. His parents walked behind him, helping carry his things.

The small family stopped at the barrier between platforms 9 and 10; the small boy turned to his parents and gave them the biggest smile he could muster. His parents smiled back at him as the boy walked straight towards the barrier, walking right through it. The boy's parents weren't far behind.

The boy looked up and saw a swinging sign that said 'Platform 9 ¾', and he knew he had made it. This was it he was finally on his way to Hogwarts. He knew that he would have it hard, but he was going to be brave; he had to be, for his parents.

The boy turned around and gave his parents both a hug good-bye. "Bye Remus dear." said the boy's mother. "Have fun, and be careful." she told him as she gave him another hug.

"Don't worry the boy Lyra, he'll be fine. Dumbledor is the headmaster after all, and if he didn't think that it would be alright he wouldn't have sent Remus the letter in the first place." Remus' father said, the last bit only quite enough for Lyra to hear. "You'll be fine, now go and make yourself some friends." his father said as he patted his son on the head, and gave him a hug for the last time until Christmas.

"Bye mum, dad." called Remus as he got on the train, and waved at his parents. "I'll be fine." he repeated his father's words to himself letting them sink in. He took a deep breath and took the last step up into the train.

Remus dragged his trunk along behind him and headed down the train. When he made it to the spot where all the other students had left there things Remus dropped off his. He then started to look for somewhere to sit. Every cabin seemed to be full, or have people that looked to be in about there 5th year in it. Not wanting to become a burden Remus tried to find some place to sit with children his own age. Finally he found a cabin occupied by a greasy black haired boy who had his nose stuck in a book.

Remus slid open the door, but the boy didn't look up. He cleared his throat, it had suddenly went dry, and asked the boy if he minded if he sat with him. The boy just shook his head so Remus sat down across from him and introduced himself.

"Hi I'm Remus Lupin. Nice to meet you..." he said trailing off realizing that he didn't know the other boys name.

"Serverus Snape." said the boy shortly, still not looking up from his book. An awkward silence then filled the cabin, as Remus and the other boy sat across from each other not saying a word. After about 5 minutes of this the compartment door slid open again, this time by a red haired girl.

"Umm... Hi I'm Lily Evans! Do either of you mind it I sit here?" she asked happily. Serverus just shook his head again, as she closed the door and sat down beside Remus.

"I'm Remus Lupin, and that's Serverus... Snape right?" Remus asked the boy who nodded and kept reading.

"Pleased to meet you!" exclaimed Lilly as she shook Remus' hand. "It's nice to see that there are some people around here that are capable of normal conversation."

"What do you mean?" Remus asked curios about what Lilly was talking about.

"I tried to sit with some other people but they were so rude! Luckily the next cabin I tried held two nice boys that were my age." she said with a big smile on her face. Remus laughed.

Remus and Lily talked for a while when Serverus got up and left. He had had enough of their talking and went to find a nice quite compartment to read in. After about 30 minutes or so more the door to the cabin slid open again.

A black haired boy, and a tall, dark brown haired boy entered laughing and talking amongst themselves. When they noticed that Remus and Lilly were in the compartment they said hello and introduced themselves as James Potter, and Sirius Black. They shook hands with Remus, and joined in on his and Lily's conversation.

Soon talk turned to school, and the tall browned haired boy named Sirius asked what houses their parents had been in. Remus found out that Sirius' mother had been in Slytherin, as well as his father (though he didn't approve of what happened in that house), James' parents had both been in Gryfindor. Remus told them that his mother had been in Ravenclaw, and his father in Gryfindor. Finally Lily reluctantly told them that her parents were both muggles and could not do magic, but none of them cared.

Lily later decided that she was going to go and find some girls to sit with for a while, since the only people that she knew were boys. They all said good-bye and Remus told her that they would see her at school. Almost a minute pasted when a blonde haired boy went running past the compartment screaming.

Remus, James, and Sirius all went to the door to see what was happening. That's when the blonde boy came running back toward their compartment again being chased by what looked to be a fuzzy pin cushion. The boy ran straight past Remus, James, and Sirius, and straight into the compartment. Sirius walked in front of the door, stopped the pin cushion in its tracks, and closed the door again.

"Thank you! Oh thank you ever so much!" cried the boy thanking Sirius for stopping the pin cushion from attacking him.

"Don't mention it. No really don't!" Sirius told him sitting back down beside James, pocketing his wand.

The boy introduced himself as Peter Pettigrew, and then shook Remus, James, and Sirius' hands. He told them all about the run in that he had had with a group of 7th years, who had made the pin cushion chase after him, and how nobody had tried to stop it until Sirius had. Pretty quickly Remus could see that Peter would become one of the people that others loved to tease.

Remus knew what would happen if people found out what he was, what they would call him. What some people would even do to him, scared of what he might do. He tried to push that from his mind, knowing that he shouldn't worry about it until a time came when he was faced with it.

Remus looked over his new "friends" if that was what he could call them. None of them knew what house they would be put in, none of them might even be in the same house. Hoping that he would never have to find out what would happen if they all were separated Remus decided to ask what house they all thought they would be in.

"I think that I'll be in Gryfindor. That would rightly tick off my mother, and father, but I would be glad for it. Man they are cracked." said Sirius. He was the first one to speak, and he seemed confident in what he was saying.

"I think I will too." said James, who high fived Sirius. Remus thought that there would be a large chance of them being in Gryfindor. Both of them seemed to posses the qualities that Gryfindor house valued; bravery, and such things. There seemed to be an abundance of it in James and Sirius.

"I want to be in that house too!" exclaimed Peter who then looked at the ground. "Though I highly doubt it. My whole family was in that house, but I'm not very brave." Peter continued to look at the ground as he said this, but looked up with hope in his eyes. "I'm not that smart either so I really wouldn't fit in in Ravenclaw, but I wouldn't mind being in Hufflepuff. Anything would suite me just fine as long as I can be in a house." he finished.

"I want to be in Ravenclaw, or Gryfindor." Remus told them. "I read a lot when I was younger, explored quite a bit too. Now all I do is read usually." He said starting to remember that fateful day when he had been bitten. Remus turned his mind from that thought, and returned to the present. He didn't want it to ruin the fun that he was having at the moment, the first real fun he had had in a long time.

Soon the train would be arriving at Hogwarts School of Witch Craft and Wizardry, so Remus, Peter, James, and Sirius all got changed into their robes, and brought their trunks back to their compartment. Everyone sat quietly anticipating the Sorting Ceremony.

Remus wondered what house he would be put in, and whether his condition would effect the house in which he would be placed. In the end he decided that it would make no difference, and that he would be put where he fit best. He longed to be in the same house as James, Sirius, and Peter. They were the only friends he had had in a long time, and he somehow knew that even if they found out what he was someday they wouldn't hold it against him.

The train arrived at the station, just as Remus was about to say something, but instead all four of the boys grabbed their trunks and headed to the exit. They had all gotten off the train, when they heard someone call out for the 1st years. Remus along with Sirius, James, and Peter made their way over to the other scared, and trembling 1st years, who were surrounding the person who had been calling them.

"You all will be riding in boats across to the school." the voice said. Remus couldn't quite see who it was who was speaking, since he was shorter then some of the people who were in front of him. All that he could see was the face of a young man who had a bright smile.

Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter all got into a boat together. Remus saw the Serverus boy in a boat a few up, and Lilly in one that was a few over from them as well. Remus was in the front of the boat with Peter, while James and Sirius where sitting behind them. All four of them saw it at once.

The castle in which they would be living the greater part of the next seven years loomed up ahead of them. The boats slowly drifted forward making hardly any noise at all. The four boys along with the rest of the eleven year olds that would become their peers, and hopefully friends were headed forward, in tiny vessels that would bring them to a greater place, somewhere that they had only dreamt about until now.

The four friends were headed toward the place that would fill their minds with wondrous things, and would help them make friendships that would last a life time. They were closing in on the castle, headed there in boats, heading for the unknown. Heading for a future that would hopefully be a bright one, and for Remus, a new beginning.

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Please review!

- Dalikins


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